Managing and keeping track of time when engaging in various activities is a cumbersome task at any age. Setting alarms to wake up from a slumber or as a reminder for the commencement or completion of a task is a practice followed by many adults to efficiently manage the use of time in their everyday activities and when performing particular tasks.
Children in particular, have difficulty understanding the concept of time and adhering to time constraints placed on them for the commencement and completion of everyday activities, from mealtime, to bedtime, and all other activities in between. Although establishing a day to day routine for activities is necessary to help the child develop good habits, sticking to time schedules in the commencement and completion of tasks and activities is equally crucial to developing a sense of self discipline and confidence in the child.
Expecting a young child or adolescent to complete activities and tasks in a timely manner has been the bane of parents and caregivers from time immemorial. Sometimes much to the consternation of the parent or caregiver, the reminders on sticking to a predetermined schedule and time does not produce desirable results because the child or adolescent looses track of time while they are engrossed in activities that are of particular interest to them. Often times these situations end up in a tug of war between the parent or caregiver and the child with the parent or caregiver losing their patience with the child and resulting in incomplete assigned chores and stubbornness from an adolescent or temper tantrums in the case of a young child. This is neither good for the child nor the parent or caregiver.
Verbal reminders about the passage of time to commence or complete an activity or task may work well with children who are old enough to read the clock or time piece. However, toddlers and pre-school age children who are not able to tell time from a clock need other means of persuasion to stick to time schedules when it comes to meal time, play time, nap time, etc.
What is needed is a system and method to inculcate an appreciation for the concept of time in young children who have not developed the skills to manage time on their own when engaged in their daily activities without constant reminders from their parents or caregivers. Such a system and method would assist children as young as two years to appreciate and understand the concept of time and develop in them a sense of self reliance in managing time when engaged in their day to day routines and activities.
Clocks and timing devices with the young child in mind have been developed and are well known in the art. For example, clocks and time pieces with alarms for children have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,346; U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2008/0192580; and U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2005/0041534. Other clocks and time devices are specifically meant to teach a young child to tell time. These include, the kiddy clock described in Jap. Pat. Pub. No. 2006508331 and the teaching clock as described in U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2008/0138782.
In recent times, timing devices have been developed specifically focused on particular children's tasks and activities. An example of such a timing device is the tooth brush timing device of U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,076 intended to alert a small child to brush and to stop brushing their teeth at particular times. Other timers focused on tooth brushing timing for a child include, the timer for brushing teeth described in U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2009/0219787, tooth brushing timer as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,325, and teeth cleaning time piece as in EPO. No. 831382.
Timers with clock faces designed to remind a child or adolescent of the time for a particular activity as illustrated in the graphical organizational task timer in U.S. Pat. No. 7,414,923, the child activity timer as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,961; and the event clock as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,416,216; U.K. Pat. App. No. 2,427,285; the child disciplinary device as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,758 are also well known in the art.
The above mentioned prior art may work with young children and adolescents who are capable of reading time from a clock face. The devices described in the prior art will not be effective in helping toddlers and pre-school age children who have not developed the skills to read time from a clock face and who are easily distracted by their environment to keep track of the time constraints placed on them for particular activities such as play time, nap time etc.